Terlingua woman teaches Boquillas women to quilt, but teaches much more along the way

Jimmy PattersonMidland Reporter-Telegram

Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, October 4, 2008

MARFA - From the beginning, the thought of this mission was that it would be finite. There would be a clear beginning and end. A time to hand over self-sustenance to those who had proved they could make it on their own. A time to say goodbye to people you have grown to love and care for deeply.

And so the end of that journey is here for Cynta de Narvaez, a woman who picked up the baton from another and began changing the lives of the campasino women and their families in the tiny northern Mexican border village of Boquillas.

Occupying a dusty patch of land that hugs the Rio Grande across from the southeastern tip of Big Bend National Park, Boquillas is within shouting distance of America. But to the south, there are miles and miles and hours and hours of driving before another town rises above the treacherous, desert mountain roads.

Many of the people in the village relied on American tourists who had quite literally found the end of the road by coming here. Lying near the canyon that bears the same name, hikers, birders and other outdoor enthusiasts often would greet the Mexicans as they waved across the water, and would stop long enough to hear the craftsmen's spiels as they would try to convince the Americans to purchase their wire scorpions, walking sticks and painted rocks. A select few villagers were chosen to boat tourists across the river for ,3. Others served beer and tacos at the town's restaurant. The experience and interaction between American tourists and the people of Boquillas was priceless, and those who made the exchange and the brief relationship with the residents returned home with stories of having been across the river and reported the people there were all warm and genuine.

But 9/11 changed all that. Eight months later, in May of 2002, a presidential order sealed the border. No longer could the villagers interact with those who had come to visit Big Bend National Park.

That is where Danielle Gallo and Cynta de Narvaez enter the story. Gallo was the first to venture across the border, teaching the people in Boquillas and building on a relationship when the border was closed. When Gallo later moved to the Midwest, de Narvaez stepped in and began what became an almost three-year mission, often fighting illness, heat, a sometimes swift and dangerous river, and the always arduous odyssey back home to Terlingua via Del Rio on Mexican buses she shared with goats. She defied the discomfort, the inconveniences and the dangers to teach the women of the village how to make quilts. In so doing she aimed to build their self-confidence to levels that had, at that point, never been achieved.

Almost 500 quilts later, de Narvaez says she has made her last teaching trip across the river, trips that are 45 minutes on the way over but as long as 16 hours back home. Returning across the Rio Grande into the United States at Boquillas, where there is not a legal entry point, would be cause for immigration officials to slap a ,10,000 fine on her, and de Narvaez would rather spend her money on teaching the people of Boquillas to make a life for themselves, selling what they produce to others back in Fort Davis, Marfa, Presidio and elsewhere, so the villagers' lives will continue to grow and be enriched.

"The plan was never to keep going to Boquillas forever," de Narvaez said. "We wanted to teach them something. And we started raising the bar for them, trying to get them to move on, one step at a time, rather than just selling every quilt and then having us take them the money back to them. We wanted them to have a vested interest in what they were doing."

The Third Annual Boquillas Quilt and Craft show is Oct. 10 and 11 at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Marfa. There will be 200 handmade Mexican quilts to choose from.

After that, the women of Boquillas will begin to show more of Mexico what they can do, heading up the effort themselves. De Narvaez says the plan is to have them begin networking with others in the village of Muzquiz, four hours south of their border town. Once those connections are made, the women will return to their village, produce more quilts and then host their own quilt shows at larger cities in Mexico. Reliance on others will have then successfully evolved into self-reliance.

"The women in Boquillas who have learned how to quilt … it's up to them to start working on their own behalf and for them to get motivated and sell for themselves," she said.

A former river and mountain guide, de Narvaez said this work of the heart is "a great way of emptying out the town." As quaint and charming as the little village was when Americans could set foot in it without fear of fines or being labeled a possible terrorist, that town is no more. What remains is a faint memory.

The quilting instruction may be over, but that doesn't necessarily mean de Narvaez has spent her last day in the town, and it certainly doesn't mean she is done helping the people of Boquillas. Not at all. She has turned her efforts now to helping the children achieve their education. Through continued generous donations, de Narvaez has begun an education fund for the young people of Boquillas. So far, two teenagers are attending high school and a third, college. A fourth child also is being helped: a 14-year-old who 10 years ago came to The Eyes of Texas in Odessa for corrective cataract surgery. De Narvaez also said laptops have been donated to help the children with their education.

As much as she and the others who have helped have come to love Boquillas and its people, they want these villagers gone and the town to continue to shrink in size and number.

"There's nothing here for them," de Narvaez said. "There's nothing to do if we're not there bringing in cash regularly for them. There is no money to make in this town."

De Narvaez's hope is donations continue to be received so all of the children can go to school, finish their education and move on to make a better life for themselves and for their families, a vital part of Mexican culture. A contribution of ,1,000 she says will feed, house and educate a Boquillas child at school for an entire year.

And the children want that education so they can have the best life possible, a life that is even better than the one they and their parents had before the border was sealed, when friendships with American visitors flourished.

"Some people say they don't like to work in Mexico, but these are the hardest working people I know," de Naravez said. "If they are given just a little opportunity to better themselves, they take it and run with it."

After visiting and teaching the people of Boquillas every month for over three years, de Narvaez certainly would know the promise the villagers hold.